By Tom Sharpe*
Ireland occupies one of the most critical positions in the defence of the British Isles and the wider European continent. Straddling the western approaches from the Atlantic, its vast exclusive economic zone – seven times the size of its landmass – is the natural frontline against Russian submarines that have made it through the Greenland/Iceland/UK (GIUK) Gap, shadow-fleet tankers and Russia’s deep-sea “research” vessels probing the undersea cables that carry 95 per cent of global internet traffic.
Yet Dublin’s stance remains a study in dangerous ambiguity: neutral in name, reliant on others in practice, and doing nothing to address the building threat.
